Ill health is costing the country £100 billion a year
A vision of a healthier Britain was unveiled this month by Dame Carol Black as she proposed radical changes to work-related health services making them available to all. The National Director for Health and Work published the first ever review into the health of the working age population – Working for a Healthier Tomorrow – calling for urgent and comprehensive reform and a new approach to health and work in Britain.
The review found that ill health was costing the country £100 billion a year and the review’s proposals focus on keeping people healthy at work, together with helping them return to work if they get ill.
Dame Carol spells out the key challenges in the review, which include addressing insufficient access to good work-related health support in the early stages of sickness and the current sick note process which concentrates on what people can’t do, instead of what they can do. The review makes key recommendations to overcome the challenges, including:
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A new’ Fit for Work’ service to be piloted for patients in early stages of sickness – if rolled out the aim would be to make work-related health support available to all.
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The outdated paper-based sick note should be replaced with an electronic ‘fit note’, stating what people can do, not what they can’t.
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Occupational health should be brought into the mainstream of healthcare provision.
The full report is available on the Health, Work and Wellbeing website at: www.workingforhealth.gov.uk
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